Letters to the editor

Dearest Esteemed Guru Maharaj,

Please accept my most humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.

A few days ago it dawned on me that I was postponing my service to Krsna. I kept making promises to him that once I have a permanent assistant professorship job, I will start a preaching center or temple in whichever city or town I am in. But then I realized, that I cannot postpone it. My greatest fault is postponing the important tasks, paying useless attention to meaningless issues, mismanaging my priorities, and most importantly I lack time (and money) management. Time management, especially or particularly in my sadhana and money management in terms of not wasting money in material things and using money to serve Krsna. Instead of setting aside time for japa, kirtan, reading Prabhupada's books, engaging in the tasks which will liberate me, I focus on the temporary only. And the reason for this is my attachment to fulfillment of my desires. I am so attached egoistically to certain perceptions of me and others' perception of me, that I give all my mind's attention to only this, instead of internal development. Most of my time I complain to God...you have given that devotee this or you have given this karmi that much. Why have you not given it to me? It is hard for me to accept that the Lord has given me exactly what I need. Bitter medicine to the ears for me, but a truth I have to learn to accept. I compare myself to others and complain. This is where I waste my time. I was highly inspired by your words: "Life is like a Battle of Kuruksetra. May die at any moment, but that is not our concern. Our concern is to fight from our assigned position and accept what Krsna arranges." This has motivated me to give up my time wasting complaining, and to just serve the Lord with what I have, from the position I am in. However, it is easier said than done, especially for a lazy lethargic like me. Before I can start preaching, I need to cultivate internal spiritual depth. I need to get the association and blessings of the Vaisnavas. At least I can start from there. That is something my mind can easily accept. I can start from inviting Vaisnavas into my house and holding kirtan and bhajan sessions at my house. However, I don't want to procrastinate...I don't want to just leave it to the future. It must start now. Maybe a New Year's resolution. I contemplate on where my life is going, where I will live, what I will do, who I will be with. But wherever or whatever it may be, I know I want my Guru, my parents, and Vaisnavas to be a part of it. I want them to come to my house and stay so that I may wash their feet, serve them, and take their blessings. I want to have a temple in my house in the main living room where I would offer arati and puja every morning and evening before and after work. I know this is the life I want, no matter whom I marry, where I work, what my profession is, or where I live. Writing to your blog Guru Maharaj is like a personal journal to Krishna that opens your heart to guru and Krishna.

Your aspiring servant,

Aja Govinda Das

HpS - Yeah!   Good idea!       Of course, one of the best ways to cultivate the internal development is to act in KC externally. Chanting with the Jaw and Paws will change the heart.

Push inside and outside.

Is there anyone you can invite to your house for KC activities???!!!  Of course, even Pantheistc ideas are the first step. Get a cow, keep it in your apartment and invite people to come and feed it straw!

Who are you associates there???

Hare Krishna Hare Rama

Todas las Glorias a Srila Prabhupada

Todas las Glorias a Ud Guru Maharaja

Querido Gurudev

Aqui le escribo desde  Argentina. Estamos en primavera, pero ya se siente la llegada del verano en unos pocos dias. 

Este año no estuve comunicado con ud. No escribí al blog ni me conecte a japa joe. Le pido disculpas. Este año espero retomar el contacto de forma continua con Ud. 

Este año hice el modulo 1 y 2 de Bhakti Sastri, y el año proximo si todo sale bien, sigo con los modulos siguientes. 

Estuve asociandome con devotos seguidamente. Eso me mantiene en el sadhana, adoracion a la deidad, etc. Pero en momentos de soledad, a veces me cuesta mucho controlar la mente. Sobre todo en el canto de japa, siento que no lo estoy haciendo con la conciencia adecuada.

Siempre medito en Ud y en Srila Prabhupada, y estoy muy agradecido. Todo avance que yo pueda tener, es gracias a su misericordia.

El proximo año espero ser util para su sankirtan y predica.

Muchas Gracias por leer mi carta y mi reporte anual

Mis reverencias a Ud, Guru Maharaja

ss

Devarsi Narada das

HpS - ASA - Good to hear from you. If you are always thinking about us then why don't you send some news from time to time!!   If we are Krsna conscious then life is a great experience at every moment!

We will attach a photo!

AgtSP!

Agt Nitai Nimai!!!

Hare Krsna Maharaja!    I´m Budanath das from the little mountain.

HpS - We live on Hillcrest Dr.  It is not even a little mountain, but the view is down hill in all directions. Maybe we will live on Govardhana soon and get back to our service to Radha and Krsna in spiritual bodies!

I here, too, it's cold, fog.

I would like to share with you a little my thoughts. I, as always, sometimes better, sometimes worse, but out of mercy, growing in Krsna consciousness.

If God, Krishna, is a person, then, a person like me who walks half mystical half-devotional paths (I recognize that it costs me to be pure). When objects begin to lose their literal meaning, when things and people tell you things, and they communicate things to you from other people, some not physical (I do not mean ghosts in bodies of people, I know the differences), but that reality begins to have another sense of time and place, without past or future, better no pre post concept, only line concept of contacts.

Is this a stage of the personal fulfillment of the powers of Krsna, and then, perhaps, of the realization of Krsna and his associates?

HpS - The way you describe it, it could be. It is such a different state of consciouisness that with such a little description we can't say if it is Spiritual of Material.  Sounds useful!!

Is this why, if it is true, that you first have to make friends with Krsna's associates, God, in order to access Him?

HpS - If by "God" you mean Maha-visnu et al, yes we most likely will get realization, contact with them first, but Lord Caitanya gives a glimpse of Radha Krsna right from the very beginning.

If true, this process is a shadow of the original mystical process that is the association of Krsna ???

HpS -  Huh?

These are things I ask myself, that I want to share with you, I imagine looking for advice and revealing the mind confidentially, like old acquaintances, friends. And respect and pride for your advice, your listening, like that of an old friend, because although I am so stupid, one way or another I have these concerns.

Is it in the purest state to go mad spiritually?

HpS - Socrares said that to ordinary people it would seem that way, but to good Christians and ISKCON Dudes it would be comprehensible.

I have to admit that I am not reading anything lately, but I try to meditate on Krsna and the teachings of Prabhupada with the things that happen to me every day. In general, my life is quite mystical, but many times I am afraid that it is only an illusion and not a real spiritual advance.

It is a fear, only that, I do not want to complain about Krsna, he has always behaved with me beautifully, it is just that I am afraid of being stuck or confusing Krsna's association with the material magic of Krsna.

If I speak without precaution I would say that Krsna is happy with me, that is why he lets me advance, but his friends who do not feel as committed as Krsna, tell me that I have to improve a lot, a lot, that I am very ugly for Krsna to see me.

Thank you for all your work, for being there teaching us the sweetness of Krsna's association and for answering the letters.

That goes well, I hope to write before next time.

Hare Krsna

Jay Radhe Jay Krsna Jay Vrndavan

HpS - Read a little of CC daily!!!!!  Five minutes befor each meal, read something. It becomes and addictive habit. Then you will have an intimate counsel, because, yes, we can get caught on the mystical material platform, for billions of lifetimes!  Don't miss Prabhupada's association.

Dear Guru Maharaja,

Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada!

I hope you are in good health.

HpS - 70-years old the Donkey is failing, but quite good for the American standard!   AGTSP!

It has been a while since my last letter. I always have it in the back of my mind to write but time gets away from me and gets transferred to my kids. Funny because they seem like they are my deities that I worship everyday, just like Prabhupada  said. Our actual Gura-Nitai are just standing on our altar, kind of neglected. I keep suggesting putting them to sleep but my husband insists that they stay there. They are merciful Lords :)

So.... we have been working on settling down in Calgary, Canada. We live on our own in a small house, living simply. My husband graduated and got his B.Ed and is now teaching grade 2 students in a charter school. He's very busy. I stay at home with the kids. It's austere but I know that the children benefit from it!!!  And I guess it will be more busy around here with a new one on the  way! I guess I'm meant to be a mother :)

We have also started a little kirtan program once a month. We rent out a room in a community center for two hours and have some kirtan and prasadam. Very simple but effective. We feel it is necessary for Calgary since our temple does not cater too much for new comers. But anyways...

I don't want to say too much. I miss you and would like to visit you some time your are close to the west coast. By what our calendar says, you will be in the Seattle are next June. Maybe we will travel then. 

Your aspiring servant,

Rasa-mandali dasi

HpS - ASA -- No fotos of your kids and husband?  The news is great. How many people come to the program. What Prasadam do you serve? Is there an ISKCON temple in Kala-Giri?

Dear Guru Maharaj,

Sorry for taking so long to reply... as soon as I arrived back in LA I ran a shipment of books down to the tksp party in San Diego with the intention of helping out with the marathon, but then some unexpected things came up that I needed to look into right away and now I'm realizing that I'm going to have to really focus to get myself over the initial hump of starting an art "business."

Brghupati prabhu set me up with one devotee we both know to help me with finances, and while trying to help me rebuild my credit he discovered that I still have about 10k worth of student loans I had no idea about which are about to be due soon. (It looks like I may have been somewhat cheated by the debt consolidation agency I worked with last year.) If that wasn't bad enough, I somehow lost a bag with probably 40-50 of my best pieces from the last few months. 

It looks like a hard road ahead for me, but the silver lining is that I still have the very best pieces from my last exhibition which I can show to galleries, and I finished a page on Patreon a while back, where I'm basically raffling artworks in exchange for monthly donations. I hope this will help me attain some basic stability and also give me the ability to travel and support different preaching projects, like a book distribution fund. I thought it would be wise to start the first fundraiser project to help me visit the pipeline protest (since it's a cause a lot of people could get behind), but it doesn't look like I'll make enough to go personally. At least I can send some prasad and supplies. Anyhow, it looks like the protesters won for now, apparently Obama stepped in to halt construction. But they're still afraid to leave because the oil co. threatened to build without permission and just pay the fines. Such demons! Plus they say Trump might reverse everything when he gets in office (to protect his investment$$.)

At any rate, I've got my work cut out for me, but some opportunities came up as well. When I was in San Diego picking up wifi in a Starbucks, one scruffy fellow asked to sit by me. Eventually I struck up a conversation and when he found out I was an artist he put me in touch with a childhood friend who now curates galleries all over the west coast! She added me to a list of "open studios" she promotes throughout California so now all I have to do is set up a display on Sundays and people will come to me. How cool is that? I'm hoping I can set up near the temple and take visitors on a tour of the BG museum & Sunday feast!

One last thing... I'm sure you probably heard by now, but Bhakta Philip has tragically left this world. I don't know all the details about the circumstances, but it was a suicide. It's amazing to see how many people he affected in his lifetime as people come forward to offer their respects on the Facebook page Chandranjana mataji made for him. Despite the differences he had with you (and with many others in ISKCON) I still think of him as a senior godbrother. He was a huge inspiration for me and I regret that I wasn't able to get to know him better. I'm helping to organize a small memorial for Phil here in LA where we'll do Harinam sankirtan at the beach in his honor. Now he and Raktak are both gone away, but losing them has inspired me to not take people for granted. I'm trying to spend more time with Bharadraj prabhu, and I just reached out to Govinda Dasi the other day for advice. Another devotee Sri Kalachandji has also offered to collaborate with me on some art projects soon. If you like I can try to write you more often as well... I was just trying to limit my posts to once a month so as not to crowd your inbox. If you ever need to contact me you can reach me at 310.503.2989 or my primary email: [email protected]

Whatever Krishna steals away is replaced with something better: only sorrow is temporary; only joy, forever.

your servant,

Ekāśma Dāsa

HpS - Yes, we heard about Prahlada Nrsmha, Phillip. He has always lived with such a passionate character. I don't think we really had that many 'differences'. He seemed to be always misunderstanding what we were trying to say until it got so we had to include a judge in the conversations.   I hope his future is very, very progressive!!!

With all your debts and stuff just keep a strong morning program and regular consculation with good devotees then you can realize it is all service, no?  We are half out the door to Mexico and India!!

Look, look, look for meetings with remarkeable people!

Hare Krshna querido maharaja: 

Por Favor Acepte mis respetuosas reverencias!

Todas las Glorias a Srila Prabhupada!

Discúlpeme por no haberle escrito antes, soy Rukmini, hija de madre Ramalila d.d. y prabhu Mahamantra d. de Arequipa-Perú, siempre quise comunicarme con usted pero no pude por razones que no lo justifican.

HpS - Yes, we recongnized your name and remembered you. Yes it has been a long time since we heard from you. Are you rich and famous? Do you have palaces on three continents? Do you regularly fly to the moon to give advice to the people there? ???  Let us read on!!

Maharaja usted sabe que desde muy pequeña he buscado el refugio en sus pies de loto pero siempre ha sido mi culpa el no lograrlo, hoy estoy decidida a luchar por ser su discípula,  canto mis rondas constantemente estoy tratando de culminar mi  curso de Bhaktiyoga con prabhu Laksmana Agraja de Lima quien me ha ayudado muchísimo con su paciencia y misericordia. Actualmente cumplo el servicio de asistente de pujari, soy Bachiller en Contabilidad y trabajo en una Constructora, tengo una pequeña niña de 3 años que se la presente alguna vez, su nombre es Ananda Shakti y mi esposo bhakta Gustavo aspirante de  Mahavisnu Maharaja.

Tambien le escribo para pedir sus bendiciones y consejos para mi matrinmonio que se llevara acabo el 31 de diciembre de este año.

Siempre orare al señor nrisimha  para que lo proteja y  pueda brindarnos su santa asociación.

A su servicio

Rukmini Devi

HpS - Casi tan rico.  Tiene bebe, esposo y ya matrimonio?  Confusion.  Pues claro es buen si puede ser casado con su esposo formalment.  We love your whole family very, very much. We wish that we could spend more time with you. I think that you and they must have gone through many challenges, but you all have been such good people, devotees, servants of Srila Prabhupada and Krsna that you will certainly at least get a little house in the pleasure groves of Vrndavana dhama for everyone if you just continue a little while longer on the same path.

Please send us more news and even photos of your wonderful marriage.